Writer Promotion: Having a Plan

This is the last post in my blog series on How to Self-Publish. In previous posts, I described ways a self-pub can promote her book. But rather than dipping into every strategy and seeing which, if any, sticks, a writer will find it useful to have a promotional plan.

There are several reasons for this. First, there are many other writers promoting their books and, for the most part, in very similar ways. A well-thought-out plan that builds interest in an upcoming book gives a writer a better chance of finding an edge. Second, many self-pubs write while holding down day jobs. Their time for promotion is limited and a plan can make them more efficient. Finally, a plan can keep marketing costs under control. It’s already a challenge for self-pubs to cover editorial and cover design costs, let alone clear a profit. And when it comes to promotion, it’s tempting to chase the dream of success and continue spending. A plan with a budget lowers this risk.

Here are some things writers should think about when developing a plan.

When to work up the plan. It’s easy to leave the development of a promotional plan until a book is done. However, many strategies such as building a social media presence require time to build followers. A writer should create and start implementing a plan once she’s certain she’s going to self-publish.

Consider what the market is. A lot of promotion involves a writer sharing content about her books and/or herself. As she develops that content, a writer should consider the profile of her potential market. Few self-pubs have the resources to do things like market surveys. However, a writer might be able to research sales of well-known books in her genre.

Types of promotion. The goal of a promotional plan is to build interest in an upcoming book that peaks when the book is published and is maintained for months and even years after. The core of the plan settles the strategies that will be used to achieve this goal. Since many writers use the same strategies and lives are busy, at any stage of implementing the plan, it’s probably best to do one or two things really well.

Timing of the strategies. Some strategies, like social media, are long-term or even ongoing. Others, like asking friends and family for help or contacting bloggers for reviews, are usually implemented in the months before publication. A promotional plan should create dates for executing all strategies to maximum effect.

Costs. A writer’s plan should also create an overall budget for promotion broken down by strategy. As I already said, the dream of success creates a temptation to spend, spend, spend, and many service providers look to take advantage of that.

Measure results. Finally, a plan should include times when the writer assesses her promotional strategies. For example, she might review social media analytics to see which content has generated the most interest. A writer will never be a hundred percent certain which strategies are working and which aren’t, but there’ll be enough information to tweak the plan and make adjustments.